Sony boards Cannes Critics’ Week Discovery prize

Sony has announced a new partnership with La Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) for the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The parallel section of the festival aims to discover new talent by showing first and second feature films from around the world, as well as a short film competition.

After the seven days of screenings, five awards are given out with the two main ones being:

• The Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize, for the best short or medium-length film in competition

• The Grand Prix Nespresso, for the best feature film in competition

Sony’s involvement will include a donation of €4,000 ($5,500) to the director of the winning film in the competition.

Remi Bonhomme, programme manager for La Semaine de la Critique, said: “La Semaine de la Critique cultivates a dynamic, daring, or even impertinent spirit, which ensures that it stands out and is noticed within the Cannes Festival. We see these same values in Sony and are convinced that the brand will be able to support these young talents in the long term.”

Fabien Pisano, Sony’s marketing director, said, “We are delighted to be part of the adventure of the Cannes Film Festival with La Semaine de la Critique. We want to support young film-makers from the beginning of their journey by putting our greatest innovations at their disposal. It is a real pleasure to see film-makers use new technologies such as the 4K to express their talent and vision.”

This year the jury will be chaired by a film-maker and will be made up of four cinema professionals. Since it was set up in 2003, the Discovery Prize has awarded film makers such as Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, Jérémy Clapin, Wi Ding Ho, Valery Rosier, the H5 collective, Guillaume Gouix, Damien Manivel and, more recently, Daria Belova